


All Time What (Things Break Apart)

by lucasmp4



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Cannot Even Believe I Have to Tag That But Here We Are, Character Study, Dysfunctional Family, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Late Night Conversations, No Incest, Please Enjoy My Beautiful Unedited Garbage, Sibling Bonding, Teen Magazines, oneshots
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-23
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-11-28 09:00:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18206354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucasmp4/pseuds/lucasmp4
Summary: Snapshots from the lives of the Hargreeves. Things break apart, pretty often.





	1. Left Me Here to Ruminate (On All She Can't Admit, and All She Can't Explain)

**Author's Note:**

> (title from all time what by they might be giants)
> 
> This is just a fun (and dysfunctional) little collection of oneshots about the Hargreeves! Most likely centered on Five because REASONS OKAY but I’ll deffo showcase others too. Possibly canon divergence in the future.
> 
> Thanks for reading!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allison and Five have a conversation. Sandwiches are eaten. Tension abounds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey. Uh. I don't know how to do movie script format. Please don't call me out on this if it's wrong. I'm pretty much capitalizing random things. But for real, I LOVE the dynamic between Allison and Five. Mostly because I'm in Big Love with both of their characters. Expect more Allison and definitely more Five in the future. Again, thanks for reading and please leave a comment of what you liked and what you didn't! I appreciate feedback, even when it makes me cry. :) <3

INT. HARGREEVES MANSION, 2003. NIGHT.

 

ALLISON HARGREEVES, aged thirteen with frizzy hair, MAKES A SANDWICH in the kitchen. She is SNEAKING. She moves as if she knows she will get in big trouble if caught. NUMBER FIVE, pajama sleeves cuffed around thin wrists, APPEARS in a flash of light, STARTLING Allison. She JUMPS.

 

ALLISON

I told- I _asked_ you to stop doing that. It’s the middle of the night. If I had screamed-

 

Five CUTS HER OFF.

 

FIVE

(sharply)

You didn't.

 

Five is unkempt and TREMBLING. He has clearly AWOKEN FROM A NIGHTMARE. Allison SENSING THIS, SQUINTS at him, as if trying to read him. A BEAT passes.

 

ALLISON

Are you okay?

 

Five waves his hand DISMISSIVELY.

 

FIVE

I’m fine. It doesn't matter.

 

ALLISON

It does matter.

 

Five is DEFENSIVE and FRUSTRATED by Allison's dissent. Allison resumes MAKING HER SANDWICH. Another BEAT.

 

FIVE

(unprompted)

I said I was fine.

 

ALLISON

I didn't argue.

 

FIVE

(annoyed)

Good.

 

Five JUMPS to sit on the counter and SWINGS HIS FEET. His heels knock against the door of the cabinets. Allison SCOWLS, but says nothing. There is an AIR OF TENSION.

 

FIVE

(out of nowhere)

What’s your training like?

 

Both Five and Allison are SURPRISED by this question. Five does not seem to have said it consciously.

 

ALLISON

Oh, you know.

 

She DOES NOT want to answer.

 

ALLISON (CON’T)

Rumors and stuff.

 

Five ROLLS HIS EYES.

 

FIVE

(sarcastic)

Really. I had _no idea._

 

Allison SWATS HIM, ANNOYED. We get the sense that she is only HALF-JOKING. Another TENSE BEAT.

 

ALLISON

I don’t want to talk about it.

 

Five nods, apparently SATISFIED.

 

FIVE

Okay.

 

Another BEAT passes. We get the sense that Allison is STILL UPSET.

 

ALLISON

(with mounting defensiveness)

I’m not going to talk about it. Don’t ask me again.

 

FIVE

I didn't say anything.

 

ALLISON

I could tell you were about to ask me. I _said_ I don’t want to talk about it.

 

FIVE

(not quite mockingly)

And I didn't argue.

 

Allison is COLDLY SILENT. They seem to have reached a standstill. Five HOPS OFF the counter.

 

FIVE

I’m going to bed.

 

Allison wants to DRAG HIS ISSUES out, too.

 

ALLISON

(quickly, spitefully)

What about you?

 

Five PAUSES. He is CAUGHT OFF GUARD.

 

FIVE

What?

 

ALLISON

Your training.

 

Five TENSES. He is FEARFUL, for a moment, but quickly masks it with anger.

 

FIVE

(snarling)

None of your _fucking_  business.

 

ALLISON

You asked _me_ about _mine_.

 

FIVE

I-

 

The anger DRAINS FROM HIS BODY, leaving him SCARED and TIRED.

 

FIVE

I did. I’m sorry.

 

Allison is TAKEN ABACK. We get the sense that Five doesn't apologize often.

 

ALLISON

Are you really okay?

 

FIVE

(tired)

Does it even fucking matter?

 

Allison can’t think of anything to say. She OFFERS HIM a BITE OF HER SANDWICH.

 

FIVE

No thanks. Goodnight.

 

He GOES UPSTAIRS. We hear his FOOTSTEPS RETREAT, and then silence. Allison speaks to an empty kitchen.

 

ALLISON

(lonely)

Goodnight.

  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. Unwelcome Visions of Rosy Fingers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "There is a moment in every young girl’s life," says Lipgloss Weekly, the magazine Allison carries with her everywhere at age twelve, "where she begins to wish she wasn’t different from everyone else."
> 
> Or, Allison can't wait to be famous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a lot of feelings about Allison Hargreeves, being the only girl in the Umbrella Academy TM. Honestly, I was intending to make this a lot longer but my narcoleptic singular braincell was not feeling up to it. And I wanted to update this. Also, this is unedited. You guys get to deal with that. Like it? Don't? Leave a comment either way! :'3

_ There is a moment in every young girl’s life,  _ says Lipgloss Weekly, the magazine Allison carries with her everywhere at age twelve,  _ where she begins to wish she wasn’t different from everyone else. _

 

Needless to say, Allison knows different. Allison is intimately familiar with different. The magazine, though, does not talk about a single whisper that can manipulate the folds of reality. The rest of the section is about being good at different things, about liking different books or TV shows or music, about wanting to style your hair differently than the other girls in your grade do. Although none of these things really pertain to Allison’s particular situation, she still reads the rest of that page as religiously as she does everything else in the issue. 

 

She’s not allowed to get a subscription to Lipgloss Weekly, god forbid, but every few months when they’re allowed three hours out in town and a crisp $20 each, the first thing Allison does is walk to the convenience store and buy as many issues as her skinny twelve-year-old arms can hold. (And a couple candy bars. She’s only human.)

 

There’s a whole month where Allison sleeps with an issue under her pillow and carries it with her to the breakfast table, rolls it up and sticks it in the waistband of her skirt during training (not very comfortable), takes it as far as she can get on missions. Dad makes her leave it in the car. Out of all of his rules, Allison has to admit maybe this one has some reason.

 

There isn’t a reason she’s so drawn to these. Not a viable one, at least. Maybe it’s the fact that she’s the only girl in the house. Well, except for Vanya. They’re more like distant acquaintances than sisters, though, so it’s not like they’d be able to talk about girl stuff. Allison actually shudders at the thought of trying to talk to silent, timid Vanya about the period she’s still waiting for, or the training bra she doesn't find as uncomfortable as she thought she would.

 

In a way, the magazines become her closest confidant. She writes letters to the advice columnists by flashlight at night, hides them under her covers and smiles a toothy goodnight grin to her mother, and pulls them out once Mom’s footsteps retreat down the hall. Allison’s never going to send the letters- she’d never be allowed to, and quite frankly, she’s not entirely sure how stamps work- but it helps her, warms her heart to pretend Ask Amy and Tara’s Tips are going to write back and tell her  _ You’re doing great, you’re beautiful, you’re perfect, you’re special, I’m so impressed with this letter, it’s the best one I’ve read in a while.  _

  
At a too-late hour, when she finishes her letter with a flourishing signature that she’s so carefully practiced for autographs (and with a little heart dotting the i) and puts it in an envelope in the box under her bed, she puts her record player right on her nightstand, turns on a  _ Tiffany _ record too quiet to wake anyone up, and dreams of getting a response in the column. Allison dreams of getting a letter back saying  _ your writing was so magnificent  _ and  _ we know you’re only twelve, but there’s a spot open on our writing team  _ and  _ we’d be honored to have you.  _ She spends nights thanking her bedroom walls so much for coming to the meet and greet, telling her mirror no, of course she wouldn’t mind a picture, answering interview questions asked by the tiles on her bathroom floor.She knows it’s not going to happen. But God, Allison wants to be famous.

**Author's Note:**

> Just to be clear, these oneshots will probably stay in standard format, but I may experiment with script format like the first chapter. Also? I'm trying movie script format which I have No Idea how to do. So. Have fun with that.


End file.
